Today I’m looking at a new smart plug called the IMGadgets 2-in-1 Dual Port Smart Wi-Fi Plug. This plug contains 2 outlets, 2 USB ports, and is compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Home for voice control convenience. If you’re in the market for some new smart plugs to incorporate into your home, read on for full details of this very handy and attractive little device.
Features and Benefits of the IMGadgets Smart Plug
Some smart plugs have just one power outlet while others have an outlet and a USB port. The IMGadgets 2-in-1 Dual Port Smart Wi-Fi Plug is not like any of these types of smart plugs—because it has 2 of each of these useful features.
It also has Energy Monitoring (to track your power consumption), Charging Protection, Wi-Fi Connectivity, a handy Scheduling Function (allowing you to program your plug to provide power to your electronics at pre-scheduled times), Family Sharing, and Voice Control (via both the Amazon Alexa and Google Home smart assistants, as mentioned above).
What’s more, the IMGadgets Smart Plug has an Away Mode (to make your home look lived in even when you travel), a Compact Design that’s stylish and doesn’t overlap onto another outlet (as many smart plugs do), and it’s all controlled by the iOS and Android compatible Smart Life App (which is freely available and provides remote direct access to your plug from virtually anywhere).
If you’re looking for some attractive and full-featured smart plugs to employ throughout your home, you may well have just found them. But how does this smart plug actually perform?
Testing the IMGadgets Smart Plug
When I received the IMGadgets Smart Plug I was immediately impressed by its design. I could tell right away that it would not overlap onto a second power outlet (not all smart plugs can make this claim), and that it was also both attractive and convenient thanks to its double dose of both power outlets and USB ports. Note: Each power outlet/USB port combo is independently controlled in the app via left and right control icons (i.e, when the left outlet is powered, the left USB port will also be powered, and vice versa for the right). Of course, I hadn’t actually tried setting it up yet, and I did run into a bit of trouble doing that.
It’s not a major issue by any means, but I did have some trouble getting the plug to connect to my home Wi-Fi network, and thus my Android smart phone. For about 30 minutes I tried to establish a connection, but the instructions weren’t exactly ideal, and even though I believe I was following them to the letter, the connection failed every single time (about 4 or 5 attempts over a 20-30 minute period).
At this point I decided to try connecting the plug using my wife’s iPhone instead. I’m not sure exactly why, but this worked almost immediately (within a couple of attempts). What’s more, the iPhone establishing contact magically also fixed the issue with my Android phone. Both devices connected and now work just fine, as if nothing had ever been wrong. To this hour I don’t know whether the issue was with the plug or my disagreeable phone.
Having survived this initial headache, I continued on with normal testing using my own Samsung phone. I am happy to report experiencing no subsequent problems with anything I’ve been able to test with it (some things I am unable to try, like Google Home voice control, as I don’t own any devices with Google Home). I did, however, try turning power to the plug on and off remotely from well across town, and it worked perfectly and instantly.
Regarding the app itself, I have rarely seen a cleaner or less cluttered and complicated app. It is very simple and straightforward in terms of its basic control functions (things like turning the plugs on and off and setting up timers). In testing my sample, I set up a timer for the leftmost outlet only, and it worked exactly as it was meant to, coming on at the preselected time I chose. Some functions are a little more involved than these basic ones, but overall I was fairly impressed with the Smart Life App, which was always instantly responsive and easily lived up to expectations.
Another noteworthy detail of the IMGadgets Dual Port Smart Plug is that no special hub or bridge type of device is required to use it, which is always a nice bonus with smart home devices. This means that each new plug you install doesn’t need to go through any additional hardware. Effectively, each plug is its own hub and will work independently with your phone and the Smart Life App.
Examining the Video Evidence
Please take a couple of minutes to watch my brief video overview of the IMGadgets 2-in-1 Dual Port Smart Wi-Fi Plug. There isn’t a lot to see when it comes to smart plugs, but I do show the plug up close (and in use in a few different places), and I also show what the Smart Life App looks like in action:
Final Thoughts
Having tested other smart plugs in the past, there’s a certain amount of common ground among most of the different options. What’s nice about the IMGadgets 2-in-1 Dual Port Smart Wi-Fi Plug is that it gives you some additional benefits that you don’t always find with every smart plug.
I especially like the fact that it doesn’t overlap onto (and thus cover up) the second power outlet in the same wall socket, meaning you won’t just be getting an even 2 for 2 trade from regular sockets to smart ones. This also makes it possible to use 2 of these devices in the same wall outlet at once if you want, effectively doubling the total number of smart outlets available from 2 to 4 (and giving you an equal number of USB ports).
I also appreciate that it doesn’t require a hub, is rather simple to use (at least after the initial hiccup of setting it up), and has proven itself to be very reliable in testing. Overall, I think that the IMGadgets 2-in-1 Dual Port Smart Wi-Fi Plug is a great option for anyone in the market for this type of smart home device. It leaves nothing on the table versus other models that I’ve tested in the past, and it looks very modern and attractive in the process.
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